How Do I ... Use SearchWin Fast Find File Search Engine for Windows

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SearchWin How Do I ...

How do I get rid of this junk? When I do a search, I get results that include files I'm not interested in (such as internet temporary files or program short cuts).

I did a search - but nothing was found! I know there should be a file there, somewhere ....

I'm doing a search to a networked computer, and is it slow! How do I speed it up ...

How do I find occurrences of a search term by itself when it also occurs as part of a longer name or phrase?

How do I add "Special Folders" like Temporary Internet Folders to the exclude list for Another Computer on my LAN?

Junk in search results. There are several ways to get rid of unwanted search results.

One method, is to define an "Exclude List". An exclude list contains folders or file types that SearchWin will always ignore when doing a Search. To have SearchWin ignore program shortcuts, add the file type ".LNK" to the exclude list. To have it skip searching Internet Shortcuts, add the file type ".URL" to the exclude list. Windows keeps several "temporary" information folders - such as cookies, internet files and of course, the windows temp folder. By adding these folders to the Exclude List, files in them will no longer be included in your search results. NOTE: you can always turn the exclude list 'off' and 'on' from the Options Menu.

Another method is to limit your search to only specific disks or folders. This is accomplished by defining a Custom Search List. Custom lists are useful if you usually keep certain information or files in particular locations. For example, I keep all my Visual Basic stuff in several different folders. One folder for 'how to', another for 'tips & tricks', another for my various program source files and so forth. I've defined a "VB Programming" Custom List that contains these folders. This allows me to quickly search for VB related information while ignoring all the other stuff I've collected on my computer.

A third method is using SearchWin's Edit Menu. This is particularly useful when you want to print or save to a file, the results of a search. This menu provides tools to manipulate the search results.

Search another computer. This is accomplished by defining a Custom Search List. A good practice is to use the computer's name as the Search List name. Use the Browse for Folder button to Browse to the computer. Click a disk on that computer & then OK to add the disk to the available folder list. Repeat this process for each disk on the networked computer. Next, use the Add>> button to include the disks in the search list & then click Save. NOTE: depending on the Operating Systems and Network Configuration, some network disks or computers may be unavailable to you. You must have "read permission" to the network resource to be able to search it with SearchWin.

An alternate method to do this: Open Edit Custom List, enter a name for the new list and click New button. Next, Open Explorer & browse the Network to the computer you want to create the list for, selecting it in the Left Explorer pane. Make sure you can see both SearchWin's Custom List window and the Explorer window. That computers disks are now visible in the Right Explorer Pane. Use control click to select each disk or folder you want in the new custom search list and then Drag the selected disks / folders to SearchWin's Custom List content list (right most list) and release the mouse button. The disks / folders are added to the list. Click Save to save your new list.

Find Zero Length Files. If you select a search by size and select size equals zero and do a search, you find you get a list of all the folders in addition to zero length files. This occurs because by definition, folders do not have a size. To find the files without including folders, add the following search terms: NOT .Folder (or enter NOT and choose the file type Folder using the File Type Selector). Make sure you turn off Ignore Zero Length files before doing this search.

Nothing was Found During a Search. Most likely, you have an option setting that is working against you. For example, if you have Search in Sub Folders turned off, SearchWin would only look in the root folder of the disk (or folder) you have selected as your place to search. Try expanding the serach by turning on Search in Sub Folders.

Another possibility is use of AND when you want an "OR" in the search terms. For example, the default search is set as AND. You enter:
"resume .doc .wpd" for your search. For a file to be found it would have to have a name like, "My resume.doc.wpd" - and there isn't likely to be such a file. Instead, your search should look like: "resume .doc OR .wpd"

Slow (Network) Searches. I don't have a specific answer for this as it depends on many factors. The factors include the Operating System(s) involved, the network speed, how busy the network is, what programs or process may be running on both your machine and the machine being searched, how the computer & network are configured, and what your user privileges are. Generally speaking, searches with mixed Operating Systems, especially older to newer seem to be slower. SearchWin reads folder/file lists directly through your operating system's Kernel file system - so SearchWins speed reading files across the network is dependent on your system & network.

For TCP/IP based networks, Network searches may be slow if the MTU setting is different between 2 or more machines on the LAN. Also, small default receive window size settings may slow searches down. Because of the many variations in network configurations, it is beyond the scope of this help document to provide specific instructions on these settings. A very good source of information about how to do this and what the correct values are is available at: J. Helmig's Networking FAQ. There are also a number of utilities available to help you configure network parameters. One such utility is TweakMaster. Another is Modem Booster. If you do change these values, be sure the changes are for your LAN network adapter. Changing these values for your internet connection may result in degraded internet access.

For NT/2000/XP machines: You can significantly speed up searches with this registry tweak. Always back up the registry before modifying it!! Browse to the following registry location: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters]
Right Click the RIGHT pane and select NEW > Dword. Name the new key SizReqBuf (exact spelling and capitalization) Right Click the new key and select Modify. In the window that opens, enter the value of ffff (four 'f's) & click OK. (Setting enabled after system restart)

A second modification that can help (XP-Pro): If your network does NOT use QOS you can increase the available bandwidth by about 20% by disabling XPs default 20% QOS reservation. To do this, Click Start > RUN. Enter gpedit.msc & click OK. In the console that opens, expand Administrative templates, expand the sub key Network and then expand QOS Packet Scheduler. In the Right pane, Right click the entry 'limit reservable bandwidth' & choose Properties. On the Settings Tab, select ENABLE & set Bandwidth Limit % to 0 (zero). Close the console. (Setting enabled after system restart)

(Everyone) One thing that can help, is to try to limit the search to specific disks and folders - reducing the scope of the search will improve results.

If (and when) I find other tips to speed this up, I will post them on SearchWin's web site. If YOU find any thing that seems to help, I would appreciate you emailing me & letting me know so I can post them for the benefit of other users.

Search in files that are not in Search In List.
Method 1 - Add the file type to the Search In List
Method 2 - Choose View menu > Search in All Files. This can take considerable time if there are a large number of files in the Search Path
Method 3 - If you know the file type you want to search in, include it in Search for File Name box and then as in Method 2, search in all files. This will limit searching in to files that match the type in File Name

Find a Search term by itself - for example you want to find 'dale' by not when it occurs in dalesplace. Use the follow search terms: dale and not dalesplace or dale and not place.

Finding a downloaded file - if you downloaded the file on the same day you are searching for it :
Set SearchWin's File Date Option to Date Created (Options menu > Change Search Options > Choose which file date to use)
If you know what disk the download is on select that disk otherwise search all local hard drives
If you know any part of the file name, enter that in the file name box (e.g., was it a zip file? an exe file?) otherwise leave it blank
From Optional Search Parameters, click Date and choose "on". The date will already be today's date so it does not need to be changed.
Note: If the download was on an earlier date, adjust the date accordingly. If you are unsure of the date, choose the date "after" option and enter a date you are sure is before the download. Picking a date that's too early may result in a large number of files being found.
Click Start Search. If search warnings are enabled, click OK to the message box.

The trick here is using Date Created instead of Date Last Modified. Date Created is the date a file was copied to a disk; date modified is the date the contents of the file were last changed.

Adding Other Computer's Special Folders to the Exclude List - you will need to know the location of the folders (For Win9x systems, usually C:\Windows\Profiles or for NT systems C:\Documents and Settings ). Use Browse for Folder to browse to that folder of that computer.
Use the following search term: "temporary internet files" AND .Folder & click Search
Select each of the folders in the results list using CTRL Left Click
Hold the CTRL key down & Right Click the results list to display SearchWin's context menu and choose Add Folder To Exclude List
Repeat this process using search terms: cookie AND .Folder
You can add the 'temp' folders in a similar manner by choose the boot disk of that computer (usually C:)
and using the search term temp OR tmp AND .Folder
If you've build a custom list for that computer's disks, you can add the recycle bins by choosing that custom list
and the search term: recycle OR recycler AND .Folder
A similar process can be used to add these for multi-boot systems.

Sometimes SearchWin shows network shares / drives as unavailable - why?
Depending on how your network is configured, shares may require a password to access them. Currently, SearchWin will not validate a share that requires a password. In most cases, you can work around this by opening the share in Explorer and supplying the password. Once the share has been validated for your computer, SearchWin can access it and the 'unavailable' message should no longer appear.

How do I limit a search to just particular folders?
That kind of search can be accomplished by building a custom search list. A search list can contain any combination of drives or folders (local or network). Search lists are saved and can be selected as the starting point for a search.

Suppose this directory tree:
C:\folderA
- SubfolderA
- - SubSubfolderA
- SubfolderB
- - SubSubfolderB

If you wanted to search only SubfolderA and SubfolderB (and not the parent or child folders) you could build a custom search list, call it JustTwo & add those two folders and save the search list. Select JustTwo from 'Choose Disk' and make sure "search in sub-folders" option is turned off. Custom search list can be built by dragging one or more selected folders from an Explorer window.